Australia is seeing record Tesla sales as supply chains clear and tax incentives become more common.
Key Details
- Electric vehicles (EVs) are seeing record sales in the U.S., with 7.1% of all car sales in January being electric.
- Those records are beginning to reflect in Australian sales as well. Supply-chain stress previously increased the wait times for new Tesla Model 3s in Australia to nine months, but recent improvements have dropped the time down to a week.
- Second-hand Tesla sales have also improved, with used prices on one-year-old models decreasing below $100,000, Bloomberg reports.
Why It’s Important
The rapid proliferation of EVs has resulted in record sales for the industry but also resulted in backlash from politicians and activists, who fear the EVs risk existing markets and jobs. As we previously reported, politicians from Wyoming and Mississippi have pushed legislation against EV proliferation and required EV dealers like Tesla to operate within existing dealership laws in an effort to protect local economies.
Australia has seen similar laws as well and generally lagged behind other western nations in EV sales. Its previous Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, campaigned against EVs, which contributed to lower supply chain access and sales, Bloomberg notes.
The current administration—under Australian Labor Party Prime Minister Anthony Albanese—has done more to encourage EV sales during his term since he was sworn-in in May 2022. He has introduced tax exemptions that have helped boost sales and encouraged renewed fuel-efficiency standards that progressively remove gas-powered vehicles from service.
Backing up a Bit
The global push for EVs has responded to renewed environmental action within the past year, with the U.S.’s Inflation Reduction Act and the U.N.’s European Sovereignty Fund creating incentives for domestically produced clean energy solutions—in an effort to meet the global goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Early indicators suggest that the EV market is still nowhere near mass adoption. As we previously reported, EVs remain a luxury good that isn’t affordable by most car buyers. Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda spoke last fall that he is less optimistic that the market will embrace EVs at the rate major automakers are pushing them out and will continue producing and selling gas vehicles for the foreseeable future.
